


Meeting Kalea

by Merfilly



Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:35:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21517099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: Lessa arrives to chase down the rumor of a Ruathan Blood.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 42





	Meeting Kalea

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Hidden Blood](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18321152) by [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly). 

Kalea tossed her head and smiled at her friends before the sudden shadow appeared above her. She looked up, shading her eyes, as the dragon began to spiral down.

"Think it's one of the High Reaches ones?" Milon asked her, even as those in sight cleared the yard in case the dragon came down fully.

"Too big," she said, even as she leaned into the presence of the dragon. "Not tired like they are, either."

Milon smiled and shook his head, but stood beside her as the senior miner at this location. Her knack for identifying the difference in the dragons and understanding people in general was not without reward to them all.

The dragon did come to the yard, landing neatly and folding her wings close to keep from being a danger to any that might come walking out of the mine facing her so closely. The gold, bright and huge, turned her head so that whirling blue-green eyes focused on Kalea intently, distracting the miner from the woman that dropped from the huge being's neck in that moment.

"I have found the right place, it seems," the narrow and sharp-featured woman said, as she approached the pair of miners that had not moved out of the yard. Kalea stared as she took in the gray eyes like her own, the long, pitch-black hair drawn away from the small face that seemed so like the mirror in her room. "When Weyrleader R'mart said he'd seen a woman like me in appearance, I knew it could not be, and yet… you are Ruathan."

"Those have been dangerous words all my life, Weyrwoman," Kalea said. "But I heard Ruatha is restored to a cousin of the line, and you… you are the one that lived."

"Please call me Lessa," the slightly shorter woman said, before focusing on the man at her side. "My greetings, and that of Benden Weyr, Master Miner," she said graciously. 

"Please, be welcome. We're still not quite used to the dragons, to be honest," Milon said. "High Reaches has our duty, and we don't mine blackrock or firestone here," he added.

"Weyrleader R'mart stated he'd seen you when you were delivering fine metals to Telgar, after passing through to the Smiths," Lessa said. "It was the Turn's End meeting after that he mentioned seeing a miner with features like mine, but I had a pregnancy that Turn, and much to deal with after," she added briskly. "This is my first chance to come around.

"Master Nicat would not say until I asked myself. He says your name is Kalea?"

Kalea nodded to that. She really was being acknowledged by the last Full Blood of the line? Sought out to be spoken to? Was this something to fear or bask in?

"Come inside, Weyr — Lessa," she said, at that catch of Lessa's disapproval. 

"Gladly. Am I to call you cousin or niece?" Lessa asked, genuinely curious as they walked inside the dormitory building to the side of the yard, Milon deciding to go on about his business.

"Niece, actually," Kalea said. "Kadessan was my father." Unintentionally, she braced a little for a storm; that secret had only been said aloud a few times in her whole life. "I was born in Crom. My mother was friendly to your brother during his fostering there."

"And Gemma…" Lessa's lips tightened then, for a long moment, as she realized what the woman must have attempted to say in her dying moments. 

"Mother married a miner, before the Lady wed that man," Kalea said. "Mother was convinced the Lady knew about me, but the secret stayed safe, and so did we. I took the trade of my father, and grew up in remote areas. It took time before we heard of his death, of Ruatha standing tall again, of Crom being repatriated to its Bloodline.

"But by then, I was a miner. Ruatha holds nothing for me but the knowing my sire was born there, for they have no mines for me to work," Kalea said, shrugging a shoulder even as she cleared a table for them to share. 

Lessa blinked at all that, thinking of her eldest brother in those dim memories. He'd had their own father's height and breadth, but yes, he'd had their mother's eyes and hair. It was no wonder that Kalea matched them so well. Most of the boys had favored their father more.

"Ruatha is in good hands, and it is Gemma's son that will inherit there," Lessa agreed. "You have the more direct claim, and I would stand for you if you insisted, but Ruatha is enjoying stability and a growing prosperity under its current Warder."

"Let it stay that way, Lessa," Kalea said, pouring klah to share. "I love my life. I work the lighter metals, and travel freely with the Traders to bring the ores where they are needed. I would never feel happy confined to just one place."

Lessa accepted the klah she was handed, and smiled warmly. "Would I be amiss to stay in touch, Kalea?"

The miner, who was much closer in age to Lessa than not, gave a small smile of her own. "It will be good, aunt, to know you as a person rather than the title I hear at Gathers, the legend that saved Pern."

Lessa laughed and shook her head. "We are Blood. That means the title stays in my Weyr. Though you must get to know Ramoth."

"I'd be glad to."


End file.
